Nurses can participate in educating members of a local community about many health topics. A topic that nurses can address is post-stroke care of a patient after being discharged from the hospital (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2022). A community-based health education resource that nurses may use is presenting information from the American Stroke Association. Nurses can prepare a presentation about life after having a stroke and how to recover. The American Stroke Association has information regarding tips for daily activities such as bathing, dressing, driving, and shopping. It also has a wealth of videos also giving tips for daily activities and post-stroke exercises as directed by a licensed physical therapist. These videos also address how to improve physical and mental function and ways to reduce the risk of falls. But most importantly, nurses can teach post-stroke survivors how to reduce their risk for developing another stroke and in a case of an emergency, how to recognize the signs and symptoms of a new stroke.
Another excellent feature given by the website of the American Stroke Association is the ability to find a stroke support group nearby. If stroke survivors do not have a family member or caregiver available, then they can benefit from finding a support group around their area. Presenting this community-based health education resource depends on the target audience and their response to the teaching. The target audience is stroke survivors and their caregivers. The registered nurse needs to understand the life-altering consequences of having a stroke and how survivors may feel about it (Magwood et al., 2020). Therefore, to make this community-based health education resource effective, it would be best to address their concerns in a presentation format or in a one-to-one session. In that way, nurses are able to help stroke survivors and meet the needs of the community.
The information from the American Stroke Association would be appropriate in my current place of work. I work in an in-patient neuro step-down unit and many patients that I care for are recovering from a recent stroke. I strive to include the family in the care of the patient because it will help if they are also informed and this makes the discharge arrangements easier (Adeoye et al., 2019). Many of my patients are concerned about the recovery process after discharge. I can always direct them to the website and click on a topic that they are concerned with and show them the corresponding video. I think that this tool is very appealing and engages the patient and their family. A topic that I would like to teach my patients is about post-stroke depression. According to the American Stroke Association, about 30% of stroke survivors develop depression and the depression increases with stroke severity. Since post-stroke depression is associated with a higher death rate and poorer recovery, I think that it would be best for me to address this topic to my patients and ensure that they are able to find the right resources after discharge (Adeoye et al., 2019)
